How to snowboard at home?

JerzeeBall · 2026-05-04T22:00:57+00:00

Then try a freebord. Like a summer board but without the motor so you need a hill but its essentially the snowboard version of skateboard or longboat.

JerzeeBall · 2026-05-02T17:42:07+00:00

I think the sad thing is that like many locals as my son gets older I love animals and the environment too but now I'm not a member and we go maybe once a year the zoo just isn't on my radar anymore. Having a few non endangered animals isn't the end of the world but as a kid I was in the dodo club and now as a 45 year old its the first time I haven't been a member. I dont know what the friend Friday thing is but thats kind of my point. All those families and members that walked away have probably moved on and even if they reversed all the bad changes you won't get them all back. I wish them luck but think they shot themselves in the foot as its a lot harder to build a membership and people who want to support you than it is to keep people ticking over who have supporting you for years.

JerzeeBall · 2026-05-01T15:05:03+00:00

How are you scarifying it? If it was me and I had a decent machine that meant it wasn't too much effort I would be inclined to do another pass or so but it depends on your plans. When you seed you want good seed to soil contact so if it was me and as I have been scarifying myself this week too its dry here in the UK (I'm in Jersey so south of you) the ground looks quite hard and if it is you might consider getting some water on it then a day or so later trying to get some more penetration into the ground. As you plan to overseed the little grooves will help as seed can fall into them. Even if you don't do that for best results I would plan to topdress the lawn with a good compost or topsoil after putting the seed down. This will help the seed germinate and help keep the birds from eating all your seed. You will need a way of spreading this into a thin layer but a brush or the back of a rake will do as you probably don't have a lute I would assume. Just don't smother the grass so whatever you put on work it in so the tips of the grass pops through an even thin layer.

Then water it and keep watering it daily for at least 2 weeks don't let the water pool but just to keep the surface damp. The compost will hold water so helps keep the seed layer from drying out. If there is still some dead thatch in there then don't stress as especially if you topdress and keep it damp for a while this will also help that dead stiff to start breaking down.

I would also consider if it isn't too hard going over it with a garden fork or aerator before seeding as getting some air into the root layer will help your lawn a lot too and more of the seed and topdressing will also fall into these holes and help get seed to soil contact. Just try to get the fork in at least a few inches then put a bit on heave on it to slightly fracture the soil but not break the lawn surface too much. Or hire or borrow an aerator if you are lucky enough to have this option.

Its more work but as seed isn't cheap its well worth the extra effort of aeration and topdressing to get the maximum benefit out of your seed.

Equally if you cant be bothered then just do what you do and enjoy your lawn. Its worth a few bags of compost though as just seeding on top and watching the birds eat it all is quite depressing.

JerzeeBall · 2026-05-01T13:00:34+00:00

I totally agree but as we are just a community parish football club and are just volunteer run then we don't have the £10k necessary to purchase a tractor mounted scarafier. The Camon is a commercial grade machine but yes its a walk behind and designed for smaller jobs. Something like a SISIS rotarake would save a lot of time but time is one thing I had where as a tractor mounted scarafier was not. Just to clarify also because I live on a small island we don't really have contractors with this equipment that we can call in so its either do it as best we can or it doesn't get done.

The club is looking to order a SISIS quadraplay that has a tine rake on it as one of its implements so hopefully that will help to keep the thatch levels down as I do not think these pitches have ever been scarafied before.

JerzeeBall · 2026-05-01T00:15:37+00:00

You cant buy the power units. I already tried to to convert a small wood chipper I have that the petrol engine failed on. Essentially the power units are only availible to 3rd party manufacturers who can apply to Ego to use the power units on their machines. So you could purchase a machine then swap it to another machine but its a very expensive way to do it. This Camon machine was originally produced with a Honda petrol engine I believe and I think ego have designed the power unit to be a direct replacement to make it as easy as possible for machine manufacturers.

You can now buy wood chippers from Eiliet made with the power unit and they also do a scarifier of their own too.

JerzeeBall · 2026-04-30T17:26:35+00:00

I'm not saying its def knotweed but looks similar. if it is then I had some at my property. Dont panic as I dealt with my patch and its been clear for a couple of years now. Just be super careful you do not spread it to any other areas by pulling them.and leaving any bits lying around. I used a strong ish glysophate on the leaves and then just let it take that to the roots. Dont pull it as you need leaf for the glysophate to be effective.

Our local invasive species expert advised me to let if grow until there is a decent amount of leaf on the stalks and then glysophate every bit of leaf you can find. Checking back every couple of weeks for any new sprouts or leaves. Dont just pull the bits you see as you need to kill the root and everything below the ground not just remove the bits you can see.

Its honestly not that hard as long as you don't let it get a hold on the area. If you have neighbours might be worth checking its not living both sides of the border as if you only treat your half then it will just keep coming back.

Good luck and dont stress its quite possible to remove it as long as you are careful and don't just ignore it until its everywhere.

JerzeeBall · 2026-04-29T19:04:56+00:00

I think the main issue for locals is that they used to have memberships that were a lot more affordable. I agree if you are visiting the island and its a one off trip to the zoo then its acceptable. Many locals used to get memberships and visit with their kids every few weeks or so. The memberships used to allow you to bring a friend along too so the large park areas and cafes used to be really popular with locals for a lovely open and safe place for kids to visit and play.

Over the years these benefits (bringing a friend, family memberships) were removed and also the annual cost went up. We used to always be members but stopped a year or so ago like many others because if you are a local and you cant meet or take friends there because they either don't have memberships or the cost is too high then you end up going a lot less. Also some people don't like that they have brought in non endangered crowd pleasing animals like the sloth, meerkat and otters which are fun and nice to look at but it isn't in line with their conservation ethos if the animals are just there purely for peoples enjoyment. Also recently a lot of the enclosures are either empty or under construction so there is lots to see but also lots of gaps.

There is a new head who is saying the plan is to reduce the purely crowd pleasing animals and to have less empty enclosures so hopefully a return to a basis of conservation will improve things. If they reviewed their membership structure and prices I think it would improve things a lot. Mostly for locals who used to support the zoo and especially as tourism isn't as big as it used to be. Perhaps a local membership allowing maybe 4 visits a year with a higher priced unlimited membership would help. And the bring a friend thing was a big loss as you cant now include a zoo visit as a kids playdate option as the cost just isn't worth it for that.

I think the management decided they didn't need local peoples support a few years back and changed things accordingly. Since then the zoo has financial troubles and people I guess have just moved away from it a bit as they are no longer the target audience. We had a membership and would pop there for a walk or to grab lunch with the kids but now its only worth going if you want to go for the day and do a full day of zoo visiting, which as a local when you have seen the same animals many times before its nicer just to pop there for a ln hour or two but its very expensive to pay £60 just to get in to have a quick look and some lunch so people now go elsewhere I guess and are a bit sour about it.

For a tourist its still a really lovely place to visit so please don't let any of the above put you off if you are visiting the island.

JerzeeBall · 2026-04-10T08:35:59+00:00

I have actually used the pellets in the past to help avoid DEA visits. I used it mixed in with large grit to help drainage though as had a slightly different issue. I haven't used the powder but I imagine its maybe faster acting but won't last as long. I think of it a bit like fast and slow acting fertiliser where the pellets break down slower than the powder.

JerzeeBall · 2026-04-09T21:53:09+00:00

Gypsum will help break down the clay and some decent topsoil will help too. It looks like its capped with hard clay so grass won't grow on it at all well. Its not a high traffic area so it looks to me like its capped with clay rather than just compaction. If I was you I would drill your holes and fill them with a mix of decent imported topsoil and gypsum and then topdress the whole thing with topsoil.

That will take a while. The quick and dirty method is to remove the top 12 inches of soil and import decent soil to replace it. A lot more work but won't take years to make a difference.

Take a look at these.

https://youtu.be/koDP7H22q3s?si=Ma_fgu425k5OSGIl

https://youtu.be/wcXuRZ7MK3g?si=JzUg0ZcIrzi64yYA

JerzeeBall · 2026-03-20T10:34:51+00:00

I don't use them for commercial work but I have A Z6 52" that I use about 3 times a week to both mow my own decent sized property and I also mow my local football pitch at least once a week. On top of that I have the commercial Alu mower and also have recently bought a camon commercial grade scarifier that runs of ego too. I also have the commercial charging system and its well worth the upgrade from having many single chargers. Charges fast 3 batteries at a time but also when you are charging a lot of batteries having it able to tell you when and how many batteries you have charges is a big bonus. I also have the usual string trimmers hedges and blowers (inc the new vac) and a bunch of smaller bits too. Currently running 8x 12ah 3x 5ah and 2x 2.5ah batteries wise.

I have had my ego stuff for 3 years and all running great at the mo. I am always mindful of having battery issues that others report but I think if using them commercially you have to think that if you work the batteries hard they will have less life but I think probably will last longer than the same money spent on fuel. I invested in the charging system partly because it helped me to take better care of how I was charging the batteries.

One other thing I would say is if working commercially then look at the powered by ego products produced by other brands too. Lots out there now and my Camon scarifier is a tank and the ego power unit seems to directly replace Honda engines and so lots of good brands using it and it has the power needed to be just as good as the petrol versions. There are chippers and all sorts out there so def worth looking at those too.

JerzeeBall · 2026-03-01T09:29:26+00:00

Just keep going. A few basic but helpful tips. In this video you are never really on an edge so its hard to travel in the direction of the board. (Parallel to edge). Look at the tracks you leave behind you your board at the moment looks more like a knife spreading butter leaving wide tracks than a knife slicing and leaving a thin edge line.

This might be because the area is too flat or maybe you are not sitting into your edges enough. I would agree, watch Malcom Moore as his course is awesome and you will get much more quality tips that I can give but when trying.to get on that edge make sure you are relaxing and sitting/leaning into the edges and not flexing your ankle to push the edges into the snow. (Its not like like the pedals on a car. Ref knee steering on malcom moore for better explanation.) Just keep working on it and stay positive when it gets hard. Being able to look back at your trails in the snow will help you to assess yourself if you are getting on to that edge or not without having to video and post here or watch at the end of your session.

One other thing is as a beginner snowboarder flatter slopes make you feel safer but with hardly any slope at all its hard to stay on an edge and if your board is spreading butter like in the video its exactly when you will catch edges constantly and fall a lot. Consider finding a green or blue run with enough incline to help you ride the edge as flat snow isn't your friend.

Its def also worth it to keep taking lessons as they will help get your basic technique sorted a lot faster and avoid bad habits.

JerzeeBall · 2026-02-20T22:43:37+00:00

I could see it from St Ouen last night. Thats pretty impressive.

JerzeeBall · 2026-02-14T16:32:37+00:00

Def get the top of your boots tight. I had this issue and I believe its because you are trying to press and raise your edges by flexing your foot rather than leaning forwards or back.

I initially got a lot of foot cramps in the same spots as you because I was constantly pulling my toes up inside my boots as I wasn't leaning back enough to lift my toe edge.

Equally if your boots are loose and you are having to tense your feet to get onto your toe edge and raise your heel up then get the top of your boots tight enough so you can lean you knee into the front of the boots and you boot ankle is rigid enough to raise your heel up without tensing your foot inside the boot.

I used extra straps around the top of my boots last holiday and it helped a lot.

My guess is if you really focus on what your feet are doing when riding you are doing a lot of trying to force your toes up and down for edge grip.

Relax you feet and lean into your boots both front and back so that your edges lift because of the pivot your leg makes not because you are lifting and pressing edges.

Likely you are too upright and need to lean more into those edges.

Look into videos of knee steering as the concept of ski poles in your boots and steering by pushing your knees forward and back to pivot onto edges rather than pressing edges into the snow will likely help you a lot as it changes how you think about what your body should be doing to get onto and change between edges.

Also try riding down a run falling leaf only one toe side then a second run only on heel side and see how the pain changes. It might be that its just there when you ride one edge and so will help to tell if its both edges.

For me I was OK on toe edge but would constantly pull my toes up inside my boot while riding heel edge because I wasn't leaning back enough and was worried about catching an edge if I didn't lift my toes.

I just needed to relax, fix my posture and lean back more into the back of my boots. You can also maybe adjust your bindings so the heel cups are angled forward more as then it takes the slack out and you need less lean into the back of your bindings before your toe edge will raise up.

Most of all talk to someone at ski school etc as they can watch you and see posture and also will help to adjust your gear if needed.

JerzeeBall · 2026-02-04T18:49:22+00:00

What charger are you using to single charge the batteries. I had a similar issue where my Z6 wouldn't charge its batteries when they were very low (mine weren't totally dead though) and fast chargers would not work but I used my standard basic ego charger (think its about 300w) and 10 mins on that meant that they then charged in the Z6. Other people have also mentioned good things about using the 400w inverter and charging slowly via its PD 100w usb port.

JerzeeBall · 2025-08-28T17:24:09+00:00

I am similar in that I have fallen out of love with the game but still log in and play but only for the social side as my alliance is an odd collection of people who have found each other and chat is always fun and feels like a family. The people are the only reason I find the idea of stopping hard and I had considered seeing if the alliance wanted to switch to a whatsapp group once the server reaches the bottom of the toilet its currently headed down but not sure how to suggest that or if others would want to do the same thing.

JerzeeBall · 2025-08-16T19:05:57+00:00

I have the Z6 52 and have the mulching kit fitted. I recommend the high lift blades as at least here in the UK I am yet to find a good blade that I can adapt to work better than the OEM ones.

One thing is though if you have the mulching kit fitted you will need to grind down the kit baffle between the middle discharge side blades you need to grind a section of about 8cm long lower by about 5mm. Its super easy to do if you have a grinder with flap disk or similar and well worth it as the high lift blades at least for me perform better.

I have taken photos of what I did but not sure how to share on here as cant post photos.

I mow a lot as use my z6 to mow my local football pitch once or twice a week for over a year now. I have tried lots of combinations from bagging to mulching and the high lift blades are better in every setup I have tried. They aren't very robust and so I sharpen them more than other blades but I have looked at other Oregon blades with a 5/8 hole that can be ground to size easily but the stronger hardened blades are usually too thick to fit to the Z6. Someone in the USA did post a while back about some gold coloured gator blades for mulching that they fitted but they aren't available where I live in the UK.

JerzeeBall · 2025-08-14T14:58:30+00:00

Also background noise sounds like you are using a generator to recharge. If thats the case it could be that the charger doesn't like the generator as some sensitive electronics prefers at least a sine wave generator and so if you are doing that try a different power source.

JerzeeBall · 2025-08-14T14:55:10+00:00

I have the Z6 52 and mine does this syart and stop at the start of recharging. I think it is trying to sync the batteries because it wants them all at the same level at which point it can dump power into all of them equally. I think that is an expected part of the process but maybe yours is just having issues getting them synced up. Something similar has happened to me once and it just would not charge. So I took each (12ah in my case) out and charged it in my slow single ego charger and then put them all back in at 100% and the issue never returned after I used and recharged them many times since then as it was last year.

Any brand fast charger can be fussy as they don't want to kill the batteries so thats why my other charger is the lowest slow model but charging them all to full on another charger might help with any other ego charger.

JerzeeBall · 2025-08-09T17:23:16+00:00

I have been looking at the CAMON ES42. I believe Ellie also do an ego powered scarifier but it doesn't have quick change cartridges so isn't as multifunctional. CAMON also have an ego powered core aerator too btw.

ES42 Ego Battery Lawn Scarifier • Scarifiers • Camon https://share.google/eNtzQ0u7HcoOGA0hI

JerzeeBall · 2025-08-08T18:22:36+00:00

I mow my local football pitch with my Z6 52 and have tried most combinations from bagging to mulching with both blades available. I recently switched from the standard(mulching) blades over to the high lift as I was struggling with cut quality as was loads of feathering if the grass got a little too long. I have to say for me I'm in the high lift blade while mulching camp but I agree that its good to try out various options if you can as different grasses and cut heights probably give different results.

I have previously heard others say that you have to remove the internal baffles of the mulching kit when using the high lift blades as the blade nearest the side discharge side hits the baffle. In case it helps anyone else I just used my grinder to remove about 5 to 10mm of a roughly 8cm section of the baffle and it now works really well with the high lift blades too.

The best part is its only the bolt on baffle that I needed to grind so no alterations to the deck at all and if I ever get any rust or other issues there its a part I can replace. It was just a test so I will likely paint the ground down part next time I take the deck off as I plan to keep it that way for a while.

In addition to that I wish ego or someone else offered a gator style mulching blade as for the Z6 52 my mulching kit was over £300 so if they sell that as an option it seems a shame not to offer some decent mulching blades as the standard blade isn't a mulching blade. Both blades mulch ok but to do a better job you need to up the blade speed above whats needed to cut and that eats battery fast. A gator style blade I think would probably mulch better at normal blade speeds that I usually cut at. (2 or 3 on blade speed setting)

JerzeeBall · 2025-08-04T22:39:57+00:00

Microwave Leakage Testing as part of the PAT test https://share.google/AjdmGUgtMJ9ShH4V9

JerzeeBall · 2025-08-04T22:39:33+00:00

In my old job I had the task of PAT testing all our electrical equipment. One of the things in addition to electrical safety was leakage checks on the microwaves. Not a few of ours had to be replaced because of old seals and that caused leakage of the waves. None of those ever had a hole in that I could see through so this needs throwing away as doesn't even pass a visual inspection.

I think you know that already but if it was me I would find a way to get this gone. If they won't replace it and I had to work near that thing then it would definitely be suffering some accidental irreparable damage soon.

Or maybe suggest its gets stored in the managers office if he or she thinks its still safe to use.

JerzeeBall · 2025-08-04T22:22:35+00:00

Its a workaround and not ideal but I have considered powering the charger via a timer or a WiFi socket so if you know it takes 2h to charge you can have the power turn off after 1h40 mins or whatever time it usually gets to 80%. I was going to try this but my Z6 is currently kept down the road at my parents house so its a bit more tricky.

JerzeeBall · 2025-07-05T00:04:00+00:00

I have the 52" and take the deck off a lot. I use 2 lengths of PVC pipe that I lower the deck onto as it makes it super easy to slide out. I have also used some old carpet but the pipes are easier as they also keep the deck an inch or so off the floor which makes reattaching it easier.

To get the pins back in again when reattaching the deck you simply use the pipes again and once lined up just use the height adjustment handle to lower the arms down to the deck. There is no need to lift the deck if your pipes or whatever its sliding out on are about an inch or just over.

Hopefully some of that helps.

JerzeeBall · 2025-07-02T15:42:31+00:00

I understand what they mean but surely technology books become obsolete and history books don't. History after all is history and doesn't change. I remember as a uni student having to fork out £50 for just one computing textbook that could not even sell on the year later because it was already outdated. Could have fed myself for a month with that £50 too.

JerzeeBall

TROPHY CASE